good food with simple ingredients

A Guest Post, Mannele- Alsace Christmas Cookies

by apuginthekitchen on December 14, 2015

I have mentioned before (on more than one occasion) that I am a Air bnb host. One of the great things about doing this is the people I meet. One of my guests who lives in France happens to be a food blogger and EXTREMELY talented animator. Ariana and her partner/friend Lucie have the beautiful blog Cosmic Tomatoes between these two very talented ladies we are presented with delicious recipes and brilliant animated art work. I was so happy to meet and get to know her while she stayed with me, she said that their collaboration is a happy marriage of art and food, Ariana is the artist and Lucie the recipe developer. The yeasted Holiday cookie is a Christmas tradition in the Alsace region of France, Mannele/Mannala is probably much like the cut out sugar cookies here in the US or the ever popular gingerbread people. I hope you enjoy this guest post from our friends and neighbors in France. I follow Ariana’s blog she is also on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and I am loving the Advent calendar they are working on. Show Ariana some love and give both Ariana and Lucie a warm welcome. Take it away Ariana….

In Alsace starting from December 6th this brioche-man is offered to children by men disguised as Saint Nicholas. This is in fact a simplified representation of Saint Nicolas that can be found in all Alsatian bakeries during the holidays …

What a lovely work out up by both of them together. I am in love with the animation of the recipe! Fantatsic!! These cookies sound delicious and enjoyed reading short note about these brioche cookie men! 😊

We love using Airbnb when we travel, it really is a wonderful way to meet people in a new city. Ariana, what wonderful animations to show the baking process! Yeast cookies are very unique to me as most of the holiday baking I do involves self rising cookies. Thank you for sharing 🙂

I love this post, especially the animation. What fun! I have visited Alsace Loraine several times and it is one of my favorite spots on this planet. The local food is over the top and it has the best restaurants and wineries.
Thank you Suzanne, for sharing and I hope to stay with you next year, I’m sorry that it didn’t work out this year.

I hope you have fun meeting all sorts of interesting people at your Airbnb. Thanks for letting us know about Cosmic Tomatoes. So cute all their illustrations that move around. I’m now following their adorable blog (through Feedly) in the French version (!!!) so that I get to practice my French 😀

I was in NY last year, if I had known you do airbnb I would have contacted you and asked you! We stayed in one in Williamsburg. Mr H and I arrived in separate moments from separate cities. He arrived first and had to wait 3 hours to get the key. When I got there I realised I had looked up the address mildly wrong (I was just a few streets away, thank goodness) and my phone stopped working, I was tired, it was dark,… a bit of a bad moment, lol. I stopped a car with you girls to ask for the directions, and they were so kind to not just direct me to where I had to go but got me to hop in and they took me there 🙂 Arrival adventures…

Wow that’s quite s story. Wait 3 hrs for keys that’s unacceptable. Would never do that to
My guests. I like air bnb it’s a great way to both meet people and help with high cost of living in NYC!! If you come you must stay with me!!!

Hi Sofia ! I just read your comment and i’m glad you get to practice your french on Cosmic tomatoes 😉 don’t be afraid to try to comment in french ! And for the others who doesn’t speak our language we translate all the recipes in english.

Hi Lynn; Thank you so much. I love their blog. Air bnb connects people who need a place to stay with people who have a place for them, If you have space in your home that you don’t use you list it on air bnb and travellers book the room like a hotel. You get paid for the time the person is there, set your price etc… I have been doing it about 6 months now and love it. Have met some wonderful people.

Wow, what a wonderful opportunity to meet people, and these two women had to have been so interesting. Their Christmas cookies are just adorable. It is a small world isn’t it? I’ll definitely be checking out their blog.

I met Ariana, Lucie was with her but it was wonderful meeting her. I had someone come here from China who booked my room for her parents when they came to see her graduate from college and she knew my blog. It’s such a small world. Thanks Julie.

Thanks for the great introduction to Cosmic Tomatoes… perfect holiday cookie along with history AND absolutely adorable animation. So clever! Glad your having success with air bnb, what a wonderful way to meet people from all over!

What a beautiful post Suzanne, your Airbnb must sure introduce you to some amazing folks from around the world. What a wonderful opportunity to have been exposed to that part of France, I’ve made a note of it for future trips :). Love the animations, too cute!

OH my! Those cookies are adorable and I love that you actually met through airbnb. So cool. Those instruction illustrations are unbelievable and so so creative. Wow. What an impressive collaboration! All the best!

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